Morelia Feeding Guide

[leosantare]

I'm looking for a solid, healthy feeding guide for the animals in the Morelia family in reference to the animals length or weight. I believe all the animals in the Morelia family share the same body proportion in relationship to their girth and length. I realize most people base the size of the rodent off the animals girth alone. However, if the animal is over/under conditioned this wouldn't be the best way. I don't have a scale to weigh my animal or the rodents I feed her, but would consider getting one if I could base the animals weight to selecting the correct rodent size. It seems as though, on average most snakes will or should reach their full adult size at 4 years old. I have firmly decided to feed one (1) "appropriate" size rodent each feed more frequently instead of multiple rodents less frequently. When I say "appropriate" size rodent, I mean that the animal and rodent both share close to the same girth. I am very surprised that this information doesn't seem to be available by now, and any recommendations would be appreciated. For example,

2ft Length = 1 Fuzzie Mouse @5 Days
3ft Length = 1 Hopper Mouse @5 Days
4ft Length = 1 Large Mouse/Rat Pup @7 Days
5ft Length = 1 Small Rat @7 Days
6ft Length = 1 Medium Rat @10 Days
7ft Length = 1 Medium/Large Rat @10 Days
8ft Length = 1 Large Rat @12 Days
9ft Length = 1 XL Rat/XS Rabbit @12 Days

[vangarret2000]

The different species in the Morelia family don't actually all share the same girth to length ratio. It varies depending on each specific species.
Deciding the size should be done depending on the girth of the snake. If the snake is over or under weight, like you said, it wouldn't be a good reference but you would adjust it accordingly to what that specific snake needs. Using a general feeding rule in that situation could be harmful to the snake. For example if say a yearling should be taking a small rat for it's food but it is really underweight, you wouldn't just start feeding it a small rat to bring it up to weight. That could be harmful to the animal. Feeding it a smaller prey more often would be the safer way to bring it up to speed.

The reason there is no definite recommendation as to what size prey to feed a snake is because there are other factors to consider then just the size of the snake. Is it a breeder? Are you just maintaining weight? Age of the snake. How often you feed. General rule is every 7 days but you can safely feed less often depending on the age of the animal and size of the prey.

There are guidelines people can follow but there will probably never be a solid specific guide to follow.

[leosantare]

Thanks for the reply and I apologize for the very long delayed response. I am aware that all Morelia python don't have the same exact length to girth relationship and was just looking for an average comparison. I understand now that you can't really create a guide for selecting the rodent size based on the pythons length alone, or at least not accurately. Like you said, choosing the rodent size should be based on the pythons girth alone. I don't understand why you said the age of the python can effect how to choose the rodent size. I would think basing it on the pythons girth is correct, regardless of the age. "Am I just mataining weight?" If the animal is still growing, no.. and if it is best to when the animal is full grown, yes. I still need to learn how to tell if the animal is under/over conditioned accurately. I wasn't specific enough in this thread and posted a new one. Please feel free to commit in it.

Thanks